Please enjoy this very late chapter!

As always, all credit for the Inuyasha characters goes to Rumiko Takahashi, and the Tokyo mew mew characters to Reiko Yoshida.

Chapter 6

Miroku's Job

Ichigo as usual was the one of the last people to wake up. The only person still asleep was Shippo, who had his bedding thrown all around him. Stretching her arms up into a yawn, Ichigo got ready for the day. Since she didn't have any extra clothes, Ichigo was borrowing a pair of Kaede's clothes today. "Sigh… I'll have to give my clothes a good scrub today. Hopefully Kagome is able to bring some more clothes for me." Even though the two girls where around the same age, Kagome was still a bit larger so her clothes wouldn't fit.

Stepping out of the house, Ichigo was blinded by the lazy sun. "The weather here really is better than the present time. The air smells nicer too." It had rained while they had slept, covering the grass with dew, and giving the air a moist, clean smell. Making her way to the small river Ichigo wondered where everyone else had wondered off to. She started to descend down the hill to the river, when she was half way down though she lost her footing on the wet grass. A pair of hands appeared behind her, breaking her fall before she could slide down the hill.

"Careful. You really need to watch where you step on this hill. The next thing you know you could be in the river."

Turning to see her savoir, she comes face to face with the monk Miroku. Waa! Our faces are so close! Turning to hide the blush forming on her face she mumbles a thanks, and continues to descend the hill. Only to slip not even 2 seconds later.

Miroku grabbed on to her arm before she could fall again. He gave a small chuckle, "Here why don't I help you to the bottom?"

"Thanks." Ichigo manages to say before they return to the decent.

Once at the bottom, Miroku noticed the clothes in ichigo's hands. "I see you are planning to do some cleaning?"

"Yep! I haven't really gotten a chance to clean them properly while travelling, so…"

"I see." He shifted his eyes away while rubbing his neck, "I guess I better leave you to it then."

Confused, Ichigo realized that her undergarments were on the top of the pile in plain sight. Ichigo's face turned bright red with embarrassment. "Waa!" She quickly grabbed the skirt part of her uniform and folded it over them.

When she looked back up she saw that Miroku had made his way back up the hill, but he stopped part way and turned. "Oh right, I meant to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Well since you already look the part, I was wondering if you would like to come with me while I work."

Alone with Miroku? Ichigo recalled a conversation she had with Sango, and she plainly remembers the demon slayer saying to never ever be alone with the monk. Even though we are kinda alone right now...

"I don't know…" She replied.

"Well then think about it. I plan on leaving in an hour, so if you plan on coming talk to me before then." With that the monk made his way up the hill and was off.

"What was that all about?" mumbling to herself, she set off to clean her clothes.

After debating with herself for a bit, Ichigo decided that she would go with Miroku. She had come to the conclusion that helping the monk would be a lot more efficient then just sitting around the village. It wasn't too hard to find him. He was sitting in Kaede's house, writing on some small pieces of paper. "Miroku?" He lifted his head to look at Ichigo. "I've decided to go with you."

Playing with the tie around the waist of the kimono, Ichigo stood nervously beside Miroku. They had gone to one of the larger villages nearby, and Ichigo noticed they were standing in front of one of the larger houses in the village. "So what are we doing exactly?" She asked Miroku.

"We are here to purify the house." Ichigo gave him a confused stare. "Here just follow me. I'll show you what to do." He gave the door two quick raps. "Hello, is anyone there?"

An older lady cracks opens the door. "Yes, can I help you?" she asks.

"While I was travelling by I could not help but notice-"

"You wouldn't happen to be a monk would you?" The lady exclaimed. Surprised at being cut off, Miroku just gave a nod. The lady gave a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. Please come in." They were brought into an extravagant sitting room filled with paintings, scrolls and antiques. Servants came in with seat cushions and refreshments. "You see odd things have been happing ever since my husband came back."

Putting down his cup of tea Miroku asked, "Could you explain what is happening in more detail?"

"Well," the lady began, "It all started when my husband came back, he has a bad habit of travelling without any notice and always brings back odd items." Standing up she brings down one of the hanging paintings and hands it to Miroku. "See take a look at this, this is one of the newer items he has brought back."

Sliding over so she could see over Miroku's shoulder, Ichigo notices it was a painting of demons fighting each other. "How gruesome…" Taking a better look around the room she notices all of the art work was related to demons in some way.

"Your husband must be a unique man." When the lady didn't respond Miroku continued on. "Would it be aright if I looked at the other items?"

"Of course. Hideaki!" When the old lady called out a boy who looked to be about 10 years old came running into the room. "Once the monk is done in this room I want you to show him the other rooms."

"Including fathers study?" Hideaki asks nervously, shifting his eyes towards the hallway.

"Yes, especially your fathers study." Turning back to Ichigo and Miroku the lady excused herself, "If you need anything just get Hideaki to tell me." With that she stood up and left the room.

Miroku carefully inspected all of the art pieces in the room. Hideaki showed them the rest of the house, but besides his fathers bedroom there was no paintings in any other part of the house. "Hm... I'm not feeling anything evil from any of the items here." Miroku turned from the painting he was looking at and faced the boy, "All that is left is your father's study. Will you take us there?"

The boy shifted in place, "father's study is separate from the main house." with that he lead Ichigo and Miroku to the back yard, "It is that small building just to the left of the house."

The building didn't seem different from the rest of the house, but when Ichigo looked at the windows a pair of red eyes disappeared just as fast as they appeared. "You aren't going to show us inside?"

Hideaki Shook his head, "Father has forbidden me from even going near it. I'll be waiting for you here." He paused for a minute "Be careful, my father is currently in there."

What does that mean? Does it have something to do with those eyes i saw?

Miroku crouched in front of the boy so they were at eye level "We'll be fine. I'll be sure to exercise whatever demon is hiding in that building."

"You mean there is actually a demon in there at this very moment?!" I think I just lost any interest in going in.

"From what I can tell there is definitely a demonic aura coming inside the building, but there is no way of knowing what is inside until we head in."

"Sigh, I guess we need to head in now don't we?"

They walked over and Miroku slowly opened the door so he could peak in. "who's there!?" I dark voice growls from inside the study "I have told you all to never step foot in here!"

Miroku slides the door open all the way, allowing Ichigo to see inside. all four walls were lined up with shelves that held not only paintings and scrolls, but also weapons, and pieces of demons themselves. At the end of the room was a desk, on the desk was what looked like to be a large black egg.

"I beg your pardon sir, but I have reason to believe that one of these items maybe trying to posses your house."

The man swings out of his chair and starts walking over to them, "That is impossible, i assure you that all of these items have been purified properly before being brought here, so there is no way for one to posses this house. Now I will ask you to leave before I throw you out."

Ignoring the man Miroku walks past him, "That egg looks fairly new, would it happen to be one of your newer items?"

The old man glares at the back of the monk, his eyes flashing red for an instant before he calms down. "That is none of your business, now leave."

Ichigo, who had stayed at the door way this whole time, saw his eyes flash red. "Um, you wouldn't have happened to be looking at us from out the window before were you?"

The man turned to her and snarled "Of course not. I have more pressing matters to deal with then spying on people." He turned back around to face Miroku, " You! Let go of that egg this instant!" He grabbed one of the swords that sat on the self and ran to Miroku. With the egg still in his left hand Miroku was only able to hold the staff with one arm. The sword slid down the base of staff and slashed the air beside Miroku.

"Miroku!" Looking around Ichigo tried to find something she could help him with.

"I'd say you find this egg to be pretty important. Tell me is it the item that is possessing you?"

"That egg is the key to unlocking inhuman powers. Once I have learned how to use it I will be stronger than any man!" The man takes another unskilled swing at Miroku. Unable to block properly Miroku tries to dodge the swing but there isn't much room in this tiny building. Even so the blade only managed to find fabric.

Miroku can't fight properly with just one hand! "Miroku, throw the egg over to me!"

"Nice thinking Ichigo." He tosses the egg over to Ichigo who was easily able to catch it. Looking up though she sees that the man is now after her.

"That egg belongs to me!" He swings down on Ichigo, but she easily moves back out of the way and exits the room.

Running to the man Miroku shouts "Your opponent is me!" He pulls out a sutra and throws it on the man's face. The man gives a horrible scream and a purple fog comes out of his mouth and flew back into the egg that Ichigo is holding. The man the collapses to the ground unconscious.

"Are we done now?" Ichigo asks.

"Not quite, bring the egg over here, i need to seal away the demonic aura before it possess someone else."

A new voice appears above them "I don't think so. See I need that egg to stay just as it is."

When Ichigo looks up she is shocked by what she sees. "Kisshu?" No, something is off...

"Not quiet kitty cat." He looked similar to Kisshu though. Same green hair but it was long, and styled in a long pony tail. His eyes were so dark they almost looked black, but he had the same ears and similar clothing to the other aliens. "You see my name is Katsu, so don't confuse me with that failure."

So I should mention that writing isn't one of my preferred hobbies. I would much rather read or draw (or game), so when I do write I tend to get writers block every half a page. I really am very sorry that I don't update more often... I am really grateful to all of you that have stuck around and put up with my irregular updates. I shall not make any more promises I can't keep. The next chapter will come out whenever I finally get it done.